Food and Web

This has nothing to do with Philly but it's so cool and absolutely worth sharing — elBulli, chef Ferran Adria's immeasurably influential restaurant in Catalonia, closed for good after dinner service this past Friday. (Adria will reopen the place as a culinary academy in 2014.) While me and probably you were never rich or fancy or cool enough to even consider eating there, and there is absolutely no need for more blind handjobby adoration for the spot, you should definitely check out Seattle writer Hsiao Ching's Storify of the final service, which organizes tweets, pictures and videos (from attending heavyweights like Jose Andres, Rene Redzepi and Grant Achatz) in chronological order. So neat to see it and hear all unfold from multiple perspectives.
Photos: @chefjoseandres and @Tokara_

CurryBox, a subdivision of New Delhi Indian Restaurant (4004 Chestnut St.), is open for business in West Philly. Brothers Kyle, Josh and Rick Singh created CurryBox as an easy way to get Indian boxed lunches delivered to your home, place of work, or location of your choosing. Place an order by 10 a.m. and choose one of the available delivery times. Orders for the next day can be placed beginning at 3 p.m.
It works like this: Choose two entrees and two sides for $8. Samosas and rice are included. You have the option of adding chicken for $1, but most entrees are vegetarian and many are vegan, all of which are labeled as such on the website.
The service is available Tuesday through Friday. Orders are done online and payment is cash or credit. CurryBox is available in University City only right now, but the group plans to operate in Center City by this coming fall.
On Thursday, July 7 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Reading Terminal Market (12th and Arch streets) will be hosting Thanks Giving in July, a fundraiser for food nonprofits Philabundance, The Food Trust and MANNA. The Insider's Michael Klein (the afternoon doubles as a launch event for his new food site, philly.com/food) shares that they'll be hosting cooking demos on the half-hour, right next to Philbert the Pig in center court, featuring Top Chef winner Kevin Sbraga, Jennifer Carroll of 10 Arts, Jack McDavid of Down Home Diner and Big Daddy’s House host Aaron McCargo Jr., who will also be signing his new cookbook, Simply Done, Well Done. For $5 you can sample what the chefs are cooking up; all proceeds go to the charities. If you can’t come to the event, RTM encourages all to drop some bills into Philbert, as money collected throughout July will be donated to the orgs, too. Klein also mentions the Phillie Phanatic will be making an appearance around noon, but "he probably won’t cook."

For those who subscribe to the members-only haute clearinghouse Gilt, you know well the site’s deadly allure. Thirty-dollar Penguin swimsuits! Fifty-dollar German-engineered knives! Twenty-eight-dollar metallic-silver canvas-and-red patent-leather Puma high-tops! So what if I’ve worn them maybe three times, THEY WERE $28!
If there were a competition for making me poor, Gilt would win. And now comes word the company has launched a food-dedicated sale site, Gilt Taste. Evil, evil, evil. The beta site is still a little temperamental, but not so fritzy as to prevent wannabe gourmands from pleasuring themselves to gratuitous imagery of La Tartufata white truffle cream, 479 Vietnamese cinnamon-sugar popcorn, D'Artagnan Mangalica ham and more. The curators of Gilt Taste have even smiled upon Philly by showcasing local chocolatier John & Kira's Ladybugs, Bees and insane whisky ganache figs. Get them!
For fans of food journalism, Gilt Taste is paired with an online magazine edited by Ruth Reichl. Maybe she’s looking for freelancers? Right here, Ruth! Will work for figs.
Photo: gilttaste.com
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Audrey Claire Taichman's Cook (253 S. 20th St.), which Meal Ticket first mentioned in February, has launched a food/drink blog called COOKbook to build up the brand a bit in anticipation of the collaborative kitchen/food classroom's debut, tentatively set for August. Posts come by way of Taichman herself, executive director Lily Cope and director of development Jackie Baik, and there are plans to feature the occasional guest post from local chefs and food writers. Here's an intro post from Cope.
In other Audrey news, her Twenty Manning Grill (261 S. 20th St.) is teaming up with Dock Street next Tuesday, May 24, for a four-course bacon and beer dinner. The meal, which runs $40 a head (seatings at 5, 7 and 9 p.m.), features porky goodness in multiple forms paired up with Dock Street beers. Menu after the jump; call 215-731-0900 for rezzies.

To simplify the process of local food discovery, the Great Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation has reached into the interactive/edible web realm with its own unique presence within the grub-sharing world of Foodspotting, the mobile platform that encourages users to upload snapped photos of their eats to share with other members.
Foodspotting, which also recently partnered with Visit Bucks County, has launched a Philly-based initiative enabling users to search through a dozen custom food guides, like Philly Homegrown (centered on locally sourced ingredients), Philly Te Ama (which focuses on Latin-influenced spots), and Burger Bonanza, where you'll find photos and info on the most coveted burgers in the city. The launch will jump off with Visit Philly's With Love Foodspotting contest, which requires members to "spot" (aka order, photograph and eat) each dish detailed in the "Famous Philly Flavors" guide. Eleven winners will be randomly selected, with one grand prize of a night in a Philly luxury hotels, a $100 gift card from Garces Restaurant Group and two gift certificates for the Flavors of Philly Food Tour. Ten runners-up will receive one gift certificate for the tour. All winners will be selected on May 25. Peep all contest rules and details here.
Photo: uwishunu.com

Not sure if it's the distractingly fickle weather or the fact that I'm leaving Philly for a few days starting tomorrow morning (expect lighter-than-usual posting), but all I've really been doing today is watching the rap scene from Teen Witch on YouTube over and over again and scrolling through the Internet-birthed glory of Tom Haverfoods. For those unfamiliar, on the most recent episode of NBC's excellent Parks & Recreation (funniest show on TV, EASY), Aziz Ansari's character Tom Haverford has an extended bit about the asinine names he uses for foods and beverages ("I call noodles long-ass rice ... fried chicken is fry fry chicky chick.") Tom Haverfoods extends the joke into perpetuity; just keep hitting refresh.

Philly's restaurant community clearly is Twitter-obsessed — just check out a few of the chefs all up on it. Naturally this had led to a number of anonymous accounts — Twitter really is the best medium for such a thing — blasting out short/sweet updates from deep within the bowels of the biz. (Follow @mealticket for a nice little gateway into it.) The skinny on three such users after the jump.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Lisa Chan-Simms, Lisa Chan-Simms. Lisa Chan-Simms said: RP's Cooking Update I wish that I knew what I know now, when I was chunkier http://bit.ly/hhbbeS #cooking #recipes [...]
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